U.S. warns penalties for named European tech firms over E.U. rules

The Office of the United States Trade Representative said in a social media post on Tuesday that it had singled out European technology firms by name and would impose economic consequences unless the European Union rolled back tech regulation and lawsuits, the agency said. The U.S.T.R., led by Jamieson Greer, said the European Union and some member states had "persisted in a continuing course of discriminatory and harassing lawsuits, taxes, fines and directives" against American companies and that Washington had raised those concerns "for years without meaningful engagement." The post listed potential targets including Accenture, DHL, Mistral, SAP, Siemens and Spotify, and said possible responses could include fees and restrictions on service companies and similar measures against other countries that adopted comparable policies.

The European Commission, through spokesman Thomas Regnier, responded that "our rules apply equally and fairly to all companies operating in the E.U.," and that the bloc would "continue to enforce our rules fairly, and without discrimination" while continuing to engage with the United States.

The announcement comes as the two sides try to complete a trade framework and amid E.U. probes and fines of U.S. tech firms — including a roughly $140 million fine against X — but the specific penalties the U.S.

Key Topics

Business, Ustr, European Union, Accenture, Sap, Spotify